Collapsible and adjustable trestles



y 7, 1964 F. BORMANN COLLAPSIBLE AND ADJUSTABLE TRESTLES Filed March 6, 1963 INVENTOR FRIEDRICH BORMANN ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,139,950 COLLAPSIBLE AND ADJUSTABLE TRESTLES Friedrich Bormaun, 9 Serpentine Road, Tenafly, NJ. Filed Mar. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 263,186 3 Claims. (Cl. 182-184) This invention relates to trestles or like supports used by artisans to work at elevated positions above the floor, and an object of the invention is the provision of certain new and useful improvements in such articles of manufacture.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an adjustable demountable trestle including adjustable supporting members or legs which, when the trestle is dismantled, may be nested together so that a large number thereof may be transported, as in an elevator, motor vehicle, or the like, as compared with unitary trestles or socalled carpenters horses.

A further object of the invention is the provision of improved adjustable means for retaining the horizontal cross members or bars immovably on the upright supports or legs of the trestle.

The above as well as additional and more specific objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawingis intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither intended nor desired to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing, FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a trestle embodying features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the same, showing in broken lines the uprights in extended position and also showing a plank or the like supported at one end on the trestle.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the two uprights of the trestle.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the cross bar of the trestle.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates two uprights of the trestle and the numeral 11 indicates the cross bar secured to the uprights to form the trestle.

The two uprights 10 are similar in structure, so that but one is shown in detail in FIGS. 3-5. Each upright 10 is formed of two identically shaped metallic tubular members 12 which are bent to include horizontal portions 13 and downwardly extending spreading leg portions 14. Transverse plates 15 and 16, secured, preferably welded, to opposite sides of the portions 14, and a transverse plate 17 secured, also preferably welded, to the ends of the horizontal portions 13, secure the members 12 together as a unit.

Additionally, the position 14 of each upright have slidably mounted thereon extensible leg extension members 18 which are constrained to be positioned in the plane of the portions 14, in the following manner. Each leg member 18 consists of two spaced parallel tubular members or pipes secured together at their upper and lower ends by opposed plates 20 and 21, respectively. It is to be noted that the portions 14 are additionally secured together at their lower, spread ends by opposed plates 22. A series of longitudinally spaced holes 23 extend diametrically through each portion 14, and each of the two 3,139,950 Patented July 7, 1964 pipes forming the leg member 18 has a single diametrical hole therethrough, shown at 24 and 25, and the latter holes are aligned. After sliding the leg member to the desired position on the portion 14, with the holes 24 and 25 aligned with a hole 23, a screw 26 having a head 27 on one end, is passed through the aligned holes, and a nut 28 is then used to lock the leg member and the portion 14 together. In assembling the upright 10, the plates 21 are positioned below the plates 22, for obvious reasons. Thus the length of the uprights may be varied to suit the desired purpose.

To the left, FIG. 3, of the plate 17, aligned parallel V-shaped brackets 29 have their upper ends welded to the portions 13, and a transverse member or pin 30 is supported in the apices of the V-shaped brackets and is permanently fixed thereto.

The top edges of the two plates 15 and 16 are shown as lying in a horizontal plane, that is, in the assembled trestle, but either top edge may be so positioned while the other is positioned below a horizontal plane, not shown. The top edge or surface of the member 30 lies in the same plane in the assembled trestle, so that when the bar 11 is supported in the two uprights, as seen in FIG. 1, the bar is supported near each end thereof at two spaced points, i.e., the member 30 and one or both of the plates 15, 16.

Each upright 10 is provided with a clamp to grip the bar 11, as shown at 31. This clamp includes two parallel upright jaws 32 and 33, the former being welded to the plate 16 and thus fixed in position, while the latter is integral with or welded to a traveler 34, riding on a screw 35 mounted in a frame 36 secured to or welded to the plate 16. A handle 37 serves to turn the screw to advance or return the jaw 33. The two uprights 10 are identical except that the relative positions of the fixed and movable jaws of the clamp 31 thereon are reversed so that both clamps are operable from the same side of the trestle and both fixed jaws 32 lie in a common vertical plane.

The bar 11 is provided in its top surface with two spaced transverse rectangular grooves 38 which are spaced from each other a distance suitable to the width of the platform, formed of a desired number of planks 39 laid side by side to bridge two spaced trestles, in the usual manner.

Referring to the V-shaped brackets 29, it is to be noted that the length of the arm 40 thereof is greater than the height of the bar 11, so that in assembling the trestle the bar is passed through the space or opening defined by the arms 40, the cross-member 30 and the plate 17 and, after registering the plate 17 in the groove 38, the bar is swung counter-clockwise, FIG. 1, so that its outer end rests on the plate or plates 15, 16. Of course this method is merely by way of example, as in practice the upright would be more easily slipped into position on the bar.

If it is desired to use bars of a greater height and therefore having greater strength, than, for example, that shown at 11, the height of the bar would be limited only by the distance between the plate 17 and the member 30, with the added provision that the groove 38 may have to be deepened. The grooves 38 in the bar, by virtue of registration therein of the plates 17, serve to prevent longitudinal slipping of the bar.

After the trestle of the above disclosure has been assembled, it is superiorly sturdy, and after dismantling the uprights 10 may be closely nested together for easy storage or transportation, and a large number may thus be placed in a space of relatively low volume.

By referring to the members 10 as uprights it is not meant to imply that they or any portions thereof are necessarily at right angles to the floor; in fact, such members normally diverge or spread outward in the general manner illustrated in the drawing.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A trestle consisting of two uprights and a bar, each upright being formed of two like spaced frame members each consisting of a horizontal portion and a downwardly extending portion and an intermediate arcuate portion, the horizontal portions being mutually parallel, vertically spaced rigid transverse members joining the leg portions, each upright having aligned depending brackets extending from said horizontal portions thereof, a cross-member supported by the aligned brackets of each upright, one of said transverse members being positioned at substantially the upper extremities of the leg portions and on that side of the leg portions which faces said cross-member, said one of said transverse members having a first vertical clamp jaw extending upward therefrom and spaced between said horizontal portions, a support secured to said one of said transverse members and having a screw rotatably mounted therein at right angles to said jaw, a second upwardly extending vertical clamp jaw positioned between said horizontal portions slidably mounted on said support and threaded on said screw and together with said first jaw forming a clamp, and an additional rigid transverse member secured to the ends of the horizontal portions, the ends of said bar being positioned on each upright between said one transverse member and said additional member and between said jaws of the clamp and resting on said one transverse member and on said crossmember.

2. A trestle according to claim 1, said bar having two spaced transverse grooves in the top surface thereof in which said additional transverse members register.

3. A trestle according to claim 2, said leg portions having leg extensions slidably mounted thereon, and means for releasably locking said extensions in any one of a plurality of longitudinal positions with respect to the leg portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 616,762 Bell Dec. 27, 1898 933,650 Kramer Sept. 7, 1909 1,107,098 Opelt Aug. 11, 1914 2,794,496 Strand June 4, 1957 2,832,647 Gerke Apr. 29, 1958 2,967,585 Bybee Jan. 10, 1961 imam 

1. A TRESTLE CONSISTING OF TWO UPRIGHTS AND A BAR, EACH UPRIGHT BEING FORMED OF TWO LIKE SPACED FRAME MEMBERS EACH CONSISTING OF A HORIZONTAL PORTION AND A DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING PORTION AND AN INTERMEDIATE ARCUATE PORTION, THE HORIZONTAL PORTIONS BEING MUTUALLY PARALLEL, VERTICALLY SPACED RIGID TRANSVERSE MEMBERS JOINING THE LEG PORTIONS, EACH UPRIGHT HAVING ALIGNED DEPENDING BRACKETS EXTENDING FROM SAID HORIZONTAL PORTIONS THEREOF, A CROSS-MEMBER SUPPORTED BY THE ALIGNED BRACKETS OF EACH UPRIGHT, ONE OF SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBERS BEING POSITIONED AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE UPPER EXTREMITIES OF THE LEG PORTIONS AND ON THAT SIDE OF THE LEG PORTIONS WHICH FACES SAID CROSS-MEMBER, SAID ONE OF SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBERS HAVING A FIRST VERTICAL CLAMP JAW EXTENDING UPWARD THEREFROM AND SPACED BETWEEN SAID HORIZONTAL PORTIONS, A SUPPORT SECURED TO SAID ONE OF SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBERS AND HAVING A SCREW ROTATABLY MOUNTED THEREIN AT RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID JAW, A SECOND UPWARDLY EXTENDING VERTICAL CLAMP JAW POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID HORIZONTAL PORTIONS SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT AND THREADED ON SAID SCREW AND TOGETHER WITH SAID FIRST JAW FORMING A CLAMP, AND AN ADDITIONAL RIGID TRANSVERSE MEMBER SECURED TO THE ENDS OF THE HORIZONTAL PORTIONS, THE ENDS OF SAID BAR BEING POSITIONED ON EACH UPRIGHT BETWEEN SAID ONE TRANSVERSE MEMBER AND SAID ADDITIONAL MEMBER AND BETWEEN SAID JAWS OF THE CLAMP AND RESTING ON SAID ONE TRANSVERSE MEMBER AND ON SAID CROSSMEMBER. 